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By:
Cynthia Leitich Smith,
on 2/16/2016
Blog:
cynsations
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By
Cynthia Leitich Smithfor
CynsationsPaige Brittis the first-time author of
The Lost Track of Time, illustrated by Lee White (Scholastic, 2015). From the promotional copy:
A magical fantasy, an allegorical cautionary tale, a feast of language, a celebration of creativity--this dazzling debut novel is poised to become a story for the ages.
Penelope is running out of time.
She dreams of being a writer, but how can she pursue her passion when her mother schedules every minute of her life? And how will she ever prove that writing is worthwhile if her mother keeps telling her to "get busy " and "be more productive"?
Then one day, Penelope discovers a hole in her schedule--an entire day completely unplanned --and she mysteriously falls into it. What follows is a mesmerizing journey through the Realm of Possibility where Penelope sets out to find and free the Great Moodler, the one person who may have the answers she seeks. Along the way, she must face an army of Clockworkers, battle the evil Chronos, take a daring Flight of Fancy, and save herself from the grip of time.
Brimming with clever language and masterful wordplay, The Lost Track of Time is a high-stakes adventure that will take you to a place where nothing is impossible and every minute doesn't count--people do. Was there one writing workshop or conference that led to an "ah-ha!" moment in your craft? What happened, and how did it help you? |
| Jill Santopolo |
I absolutely do have a most memorable workshop! It was actually one you gave in 2008 with
Jill Santopolo, author and editor at Philomel Books. Even though it was over seven years ago, I’ve never forgotten it.
The workshop was organized by the
Austin SCBWI and hosted by
Debbie Gonzales, who was regional advisor at the time.
To register, you had to submit three pages of a work-in-progress. A few weeks before the event, everyone received a packet with copies of all the three-page submissions. Then during the workshop, you and Jill went through each submission and discussed it with the entire group.
You were both kind and encouraging, but also very honest. Jill told us that editors were looking for a reason to say “no” when they read a manuscript. Together you discussed each submission and pointed out the potential “no’s.” Meandering openings, overly long backstory, and hazy plot lines were the most common mistakes.
Even though what you had to say was tough, it was clear you were invested in everyone’s success. You wanted to turn those no’s into yes’s.
Here’s the funny thing. I didn’t even submit my three pages. I registered too late to be a part of the critique, but I went to the workshop anyway. And I’m so glad I did! After the workshop I went home, re-read my three pages, and guess what? They were meandering, “explain-y,” and vague. But because of your input, I could see it. And if I could see it, I could fix it.
 |
| Cynthia Leitich Smith & Debbie Gonzales |
The Lost Track of Time opens with an alarm clock going off, “Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.” It’s 6 a.m. and even though it’s summer vacation, the main character, Penelope, has to get up and get busy. Right from the start, you know that the central conflict in the story is time.
I did that because of what I learned from you and Jill.
After I fixed my first chapter, I submitted it to two conferences and had sit-down conversations with agents at both. The first agent asked for thirty more pages and the second one,
Marietta B. Zacker, signed me. There is absolutely no way that would have happened if I hadn’t gone to that workshop. I’ve always wanted to tell you and Jill how much you helped me!
As a fantasy writer, going in, did you have a sense of how events/themes in your novel might parallel or speak to events/issues in our real world? Or did this evolve over the course of many drafts?From the beginning, I knew The Lost Track of Time was intimately connected to real-world issues. When I started writing it, I was working for an internet startup. I was constantly on the clock, from morning until night and over the weekends, trying to make the company a success. Everyone was fighting for more time—but no matter what we did, there was never enough. And what time we did have, had to be spent
Constantly! Achieving! Results! Not surprisingly, The Lost Track of Time is about a girl who likes to do nothing. Doing nothing seemed to me like a radical and counter-cultural act. I’m not talking about the nothing where you lie around flipping through TV channels because you’re too exhausted to engage in life.
I’m talking about moodling.
I learned about moodling from
Brenda Ueland in her book,
If You Want to Write. She writes:
“The imagination needs moodling–long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.”
I agree. When you moodle, you’re quiet, still, and (horrors!) unproductive. You let your mind wander until it becomes calm and curious and open. It’s a space of quiet contemplation and intense creativity.
During this busy time in my life, I had no time for quiet contemplation. But when I discovered Brenda Ueland’s words, I suddenly felt I had permission to sit, stare out the window, and moodle. Not only did I have permission, it was imperative that I do so if I wanted to let my own ideas and stories to “develop and gently shine.”
Ueland’s encouragement that everyone moodle touched me so deeply that she inspired a character in my book. She’s the Great Moodler and Penelope fights the tyranny of Chronos and his Clockworkers to save her from banishment in the Realm of Possibility.
As Penelope faces each trial with both imagination and courage, she moves from being an insecure, apologetic daydreamer to a great moodler in her own right.
Research shows a marked decline in U.S. children’s creativity, due to a lack of unstructured free time to play and, I would say, to moodle.
This is terrible news! Not just because creativity is wonderful and life-giving, but because it’s the best predictor we have of a child’s future success, not just in the realms of art and literature, but in the world of business, science, and technology, too.
I’m not sure if you can teach creativity, but I do think you can encourage it. And that’s what I wanted to do in The Lost Track of Time.
I wanted to hold up moodlers as heroes.
Not because they can wield a sword, but because they dare, like Penelope, to enter the Realm of Possibility—to live in the present, to be creative and contemplative, and to believe anything is possible.
 |
| Paige's desk |
Cynsational GiveawayEnter to win one of two signed copies of
The Lost Track of Time by
Paige Britt, illustrated by Lee White (Scholastic, 2015). Author sponsored. Eligible territory: U.S.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Chelsea Clinton has landed a deal with Penguin Young Readers. She intends to write a middle grade book entitled It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going.
For this project, Clinton will address a variety of different issues including poverty, education, equality, epidemics, and climate change. Executive editor Jill Santopolo will edit the manuscript. The publication date has been scheduled for September 15th.
Clinton had this statement in the press release: “In It’s Your World, I try to explain what I think are some of the biggest challenges facing our world today, particularly for young people. I also explore some of the solutions to those challenges and share stories of inspiring kids and teenagers doing amazing work to help people and our planet have brighter and healthier futures. My hope is that the book will inspire readers to realize that they can start making a difference now, in their own way, for their family, their community, and our world.”
It's possible (very possible?) that this blog post will be imperfect. I will either upmake a word; or use an unnecessary semi-colon. I will insist that those whom read this review go buy this book. I will misapply the heesh. I will call the author an authoress. I will be insufficiently restrictive.
I'm about as imperfect as a person gets, but I still love me my grammar books. I've got a stack of them. I find them foon to read. And these confessions of Mary Norris, who has comma asserted for three decades at the
New Yorker, make a wonderful addition to my grammar/memoir/humor shelf. Because honestly, some of the funniest stuff I read is found in grammar books. These checkers have a ripe sense of humor, oh but they do:
Norris is a lovable guide to commas and pencils. She (like
Daniel Menaker, the
New Yorker editor who visited my class at Penn this last semester) sort of kind of just landed at the estimable magazine. She endured furrowed brows, compensated for her own bad handwriting, studied the-art-of-the-hyphen, heard marriage proposal possibilities in author praise, and made a few good finds (more than a few good finds) on proof pages. She talks about it all (or 200 pages of the all) in
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen. I found this book a happy place to be, a bar of sunshine on the couch, a melding of gentle instruction in life and words.
Here is Norris on commas and clauses:
If the clause is integral to the meaning of the sentence, it should not be set off by commas. It is restrictive, that intimidating word wielded by grammarians in the attempt to fend off commas. (People think we live to put commas in, but it isn't so.) A phrase is restrictive if it tightens the meaning, if it draws an invisible belt around which fact, out of all the facts in the universe, pertains.
Here she is on who and whom:
The choice of "who" or "whom" is governed not by its role as the object of the sentence or the object of a preposition but by its role in the group of words that has been plugged into that position. Break it down: You can tell he (or she) is top dog. You would never say, "You can tell him (or her) is top dog." That's the point: "who" and "whom" are standing in for a pronoun: "who" stands in for "he, she, they, I, we"; "whom" stands in for "him, her, them, me, us."
(As I type these words I ponder the punctuation of that last sentence.)
Can we talk about how many times I have been saved by a copy editor?
Here I was years ago on a vlog, no less, thanking HarperTeen's Renee Cafiero and Jill Santopolo for their help on an early YA novel, showing off the pages of corrections. And you have, perhaps, noticed my affection for a certain Debbie Deford Minerva in the acknowledgments of
One Thing Stolen and (upcoming)
This Is the Story of You, who has saved me time and again, both by her enthusiasm and her fact checking, not to mention her ability to gently ask whether I really did mean to have one character in two different places at one time.
Just the other night, I was at Rosemont College, giving my annual "Love Your Copy Editors" talk for Hobart Rowland, the editorial director of
Delaware Today and
Main Line Today magazines. I had my slew of books. I told my copy editing stories. I goaded. Learn the rules, I said. Learn how to break the rules. Help us authors be our best and brightest selves.
Help me.
Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar this week.
To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.
Grumpy Cat (pictured, via) will appear and take photos with fans at Barnes & Noble (Union Square branch). Meet the internet sensation on Thursday, August 7th at 5 p.m. (New York, NY)
(more…)
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
 |
| Jill Santopolo |
Jill Santopolo is an executive editor at Philomel Books, and is the author of book series for YA and MG readers, including the Alec Flint series, Sparkle Spa, and Follow Your Heart.
As an editor, she works with Jane Yolen, Andrea Cremer, T.A. Barron, and more wonderful authors. Her list includes picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels.
Jill was worried that no one would show up, but she ran out of handouts and several people were sitting on
Dan Santat's lap.
She talked to us about strategies for developing plots, which she considers to be the backbone of stories. Her goal was for us to leave the room with five potential stories we can tackle in the future.
In addition to sharing several plot types with us, she walked us through questions designed to help us build the scaffolding of our stories.
Among the plot types she described:
- The quest: Rick Riordan's THE LIGHTNING THIEF is a great example of this. Percy is at home, lacking an understanding of his life and relationship with his father. A force makes him act in a new way. A motivating incident occurs. And he meets buddies (there are always buddies). The middle makes things interesting; the end provides the answer to the lack.
- The pursuit: Marie Lu's LEGEND. She establishes the good guy and the bad guy, the stakes of the pursuit, and the incident that sets it in motion. Twists, turns, and reversals follow. In the end, she sets someone free (though catching him could also be the resolution).
- The underdog plot: The story starts in a conflict-ripe world. A catalyst pits rivals against each other. There is a power struggle. The antagonists gain upper hand. In the middle: two sides are equal in power. Then come more power shifts. Then the underdog is empowered. In the end, there's a confrontation and the underdog wins.
It was an incredibly useful session, with lots of great insight about how we can frame the shape of the stories we're working on using a simple series of questions.
Jill's website.
Check out this plot-centered discussion Team Blog's Jolie Stekly had with Executive Editor (and author) Jill Santopolo!
Jill goes into detail on what you can expect from attending her 3 hour plot intensive, and she'll also be teaching two general sessions during the main summer conference, "20 master plots: go on a story brainstorming binge" on Friday afternoon and "In the hot seat: embodying your character with tricks from the theater"on Sunday morning.
If you want to be there to learn from Jill yourself, you'll need to join us at the SCBWI Summer Conference, August 1-4, 2014 in Los Angeles. The conference is nearly sold-out, so
go here to find out all the details and register!Illustrate and Write On,Lee
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 2/8/2013
Blog:
Beth Kephart Books
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A few days before I left for a research trip to Florence, Italy, I spent this Friday evening at Children's Book World with David Levithan. Of course he is a legend. Of course I'd read many of his books. Of course I'd seen him charm and challenge at a Publishing Perspectives conference. But I hadn't met him in person until that evening, hadn't seen his fabled generosity at work until, at this group session with my friend Jennifer Hubbard, Ellen Hopkins, and Eliot Schrefer, I watched as he put others on his stage.
Because, in addition to writing bestselling, critically acclaimed books alone and with others, in addition to finding, editing, and believing in some of the most popular young adult books of our time, in addition to being a spokesperson for the possible in literature, David Levithan time and again puts others on his stage. Inviting rising young adult authors to appear with him when he is launching his own books. Serving as a moderator while established young adult authors speak. And spending who knows how many hours putting together what has become a phenomenon: the NYC Teen Author Festival.
He might have written an entirely new book, I imagine. But he spent time doing this. Over ninety authors from over a dozen publishers, over seven days, to quote David. And we're all hoping that you will both attend and help spread word.
I'll be whisking away from my Penn teaching/corporate world for the "mega signing" at Books of Wonder on March 24, when I'll remember what it is to be an author again. I've got my fingers crossed that you'll be there.
And while you are waiting for this fab event, pre-order David's upcoming book, coauthored with Andrea Creamer and edited by my friend Jill Santopolo for that wonderful house, Philomel. It's a really, truly excellent book. How excellent? Read
here.
2013 NYC Teen Author Festival
http://www.facebook.com/NYCTeenAuthorFestival <http://www.facebook.com/NYCTeenAuthorFestival>
Monday, March 18 (Mulberry Street Branch of the NYPL, 10 Jersey Street b/w Mulberry and Lafayette, 6-8):
I’ll Take You There: A Change of Scenery, A Change of Self
Description: In their recent books, each of these authors have plunged their teen characters into new places as a way of revealing their true selves. We’ll talk about this YA journey narrative – where it comes from, and what it can lead to.
Gayle Forman
Kristen-Paige Madonia
Bennett Madison
Jennifer E. Smith
Melissa Walker
moderator: David Levithan
Tuesday, March 19 (WORD Bookstore, 7-8:30, 126 Franklin St, Greenpoint):
The Only Way Out is Through: Engaging Truth through YA
Description: Pain. Confusion. Loss. Mistakes. Revelation. More mistakes. Recovery. One of the things that makes YA work is its desire to engage the messy truths of both adolescence and life in general. Here we talk about what it’s like to engage this messy truth, and how to craft it into a story with some kind of form.
Crissa Chappell
Tim Decker
Ellen Hopkins
Amy McNamara
Jessica Verdi
moderator: David Levithan
Wednesday. March 20 (42nd St NYPL, South Court room, 6-8):
Imagination: A Conversation
Description: It’s a given that authors’ minds are very strange, wonderful, twisted, illogical, inventive places. Here we talk to five rather imaginative authors about how they conjure the worlds in their books and the stories that they tell, along with glimpses of the strange and wonderful worlds they are creating at the present.
Holly Black
Lev Grossman
Michelle Hodkin
Alaya Johnson
Robin Wasserman
moderators: David Levithan and Chris Shoemaker
Thursday, March 21:
SOHO Teen night, 6-9pm (Books of Wonder, 18 W18th St)
Celebrate the launch of SOHO Teen, featuring readings by Jacquelyn Mitchard, Joy Preble, Margaux Froley, Elizabeth Kiem, Heather Terrell & Ricardo Cortés, and Lisa & Laura Roecker.
Friday March 22, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, Berger Forum, 2nd floor, 2-6)
2:00 – Introduction
2:10-3:00: He Said, She Said
Description: Not to be too mysterious, but I will email these authors separately about what I’m thinking for this.
He:
Ted Goeglein
Gordon Korman
Lucas Klauss
Michael Northrop
She:
Susane Colasanti
E. Lockhart
Carolyn Mackler
Sarah Mlynowski
Leila Sales
moderator: David Levithan
3:00-4:00: Taking a Turn: YA Characters Dealing with Bad and Unexpected Choices
Description: In each of these authors’ novels, the main character’s life takes an unexpected twist. Sometimes this is because of a bad choice. Sometimes this is because of a secret revealed. And sometimes it doesn’t feel like a choice at all, but rather a reaction. We’ll talk about following these characters as they make these choices – both good and bad. Will include brief readings illuminating these choices.
Caela Carter
Eireann Corrigan
Alissa Grosso
Terra Elan McVoy
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Elizabeth Scott
K. M. Walton
moderator: Aaron Hartzler
4:00-4:10: Break
4:10-4:40: That’s So Nineteenth Century
Description: A Conversation About Playing with 19th Century Archetypes in the 21st Century
Sharon Cameron
Leanna Renee Hieber
Stephanie Strohm
Suzanne Weyn
Moderator: Sarah Beth Durst
4:40-5:30: Alternate World vs. Imaginary World
Description: Of these authors, some have written stories involving alternate or parallel versions of our world, some have made up imaginary worlds for their characters, and still others have written books that do each. We’ll discuss the decision to either connect the world of a book to our world, or to take it out of the historical context of our world. How do each strategies help in telling story and developing character? Is one easier than the other? Is the stepping off point always reality, or can it sometimes be another fictional world?
Sarah Beth Durst
Jeff Hirsch
Emmy Laybourne
Lauren Miller
E. C. Myers
Diana Peterfreund
Mary Thompson
Moderator: Chris Shoemaker
Friday March 22, Barnes & Noble Reader’s Theater/Signing (Union Square B&N, 33 E 17th St, 7-8:30)
Eireann Corrigan
Elizabeth Eulberg
Jeff Hirsch
David Levithan
Rainbow Rowell
Nova Ren Suma
Saturday March 23, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, Bergen Forum, 2nd Floor, 1-5)
1:00 – Introduction
1:10-2:10 – Defying Description: Tackling the Many Facets of Identity in YA
Description: As YA literature evolves, there is more of an acknowledgment of the many facets that go into a teenager’s identity, and even categories that once seemed absolute now have more nuance. Focusing particularly, but not exclusively, on LGBTQ characters and their depiction, we’ll discuss the complexities about writing about such a complex experience.
Marissa Calin
Emily Danforth
Aaron Hartzler
A.S. King
Jacqueline Woodson
moderator: David Levithan
2:10-2:40 -- New Voices Spotlight
Description: Each debut author will share a five-minute reading from her or his work
J. J. Howard
Kimberly Sabatini
Tiffany Schmidt
Greg Takoudes
2:40-3:30 – Under Many Influences: Shaping Identity When You’re a Teen Girl
Description: Being a teen girl is to be under many influences – friends, parents, siblings, teachers, favorite bands, favorite boys, favorite web sites. These authors will talk about the influences that each of their main characters tap into – and then talk about what influences them as writers when they shape these characters.
Jen Calonita
Deborah Heiligman
Hilary Weisman Graham
Kody Keplinger
Amy Spalding
Katie Sise
Kathryn Williams
moderator: Terra Elan McVoy
3:30-3:40 – Break
3:40-4:20 – Born This Way: Nature, Nurture, and Paranormalcy
Description: Paranormal and supernatural fiction for teens constantly wrestles with issues of identity and the origin of identity. Whether their characters are born “different” or come into their powers over time, each of these authors uses the supernatural as a way to explore the nature of self.
Jessica Brody
Gina Damico
Maya Gold
Alexandra Monir
Lindsay Ribar
Jeri Smith-Ready
Jessica Spotswood
moderator: Adrienne Maria Vrettos
4:20-5:00 – The Next Big Thing
Description: Again, not to be too mysterious, but I will email these authors separately about what I’m thinking for this.
Jocelyn Davies
Leanna Renee Hieber
Barry Lyga
Maryrose Wood
Saturday March 23: Mutual Admiration Society reading at McNally Jackson (McNally Jackson, Prince Street, 7-8:30):
Sharon Cameron
A.S. King
Michael Northrop
Diana Peterfreund
Victoria Schwab
Nova Ren Suma
hosted by David Levithan
Sunday March 24: Our No-Foolin’ Mega-Signing at Books of Wonder (Books of Wonder, 1-4):
1-1:45:
Jessica Brody (Unremembered, Macmillan)
Marisa Calin (Between You and Me, Bloomsbury)
Jen Calonita (The Grass is Always Greener, LB)
Sharon Cameron (The Dark Unwinding, Scholastic)
Caela Carter (Me, Him, Them, and It, Bloomsbury)
Crissa Chappell (Narc, Flux)
Susane Colasanti (Keep Holding On, Penguin)
Zoraida Cordova (The Vicious Deep, Sourcebooks)
Gina Damico (Scorch, HMH)
Jocelyn Davies (A Fractured Light, HC)
Sarah Beth Durst (Vessel, S&S)
Gayle Forman (Just One Day, Penguin)
Elizabeth Scott (Miracle, S&S)
1:45-2:30
T. M. Goeglein (Cold Fury, Penguin)
Hilary Weisman Graham (Reunited, S&S)
Alissa Grosso (Ferocity Summer, Flux)
Aaron Hartzler (Rapture Practice, LB)
Deborah Heiligman (Intentions, RH)
Leanna Renee Hieber (The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, Sourcebooks)
Jeff Hirsch (Magisterium, Scholastic)
J. J. Howard (That Time I Joined the Circus, Scholastic)
Alaya Johnson (The Summer Prince, Scholastic)
Beth Kephart (Small Damages, Penguin)
Kody Keplinger (A Midsummer’s Nightmare, LB)
2:30-3:15
A.S. King (Ask the Passengers, LB)
Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14, Macmillan)
David Levithan (Every Day, RH)
Barry Lyga (Yesterday Again, Scholastic)
Brian Meehl (Suck it Up and Die, RH)
Alexandra Monir (Timekeeper, RH)
Michael Northrop (Rotten, Scholastic)
Diana Peterfreund (For Darkness Shows the Stars, HC)
Lindsay Ribar (The Art of Wishing, Penguin)
Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park, St. Martin’s)
Kimberly Sabatini (Touching the Surface, S&S)
Tiffany Schmidt (Send Me a Sign, Bloomsbury)
3:15-4:00
Victoria Schwab (The Archived, Hyperion)
Jeri Smith-Ready (Shine, S&S)
Amy Spalding (The Reece Malcolm List, Entangled)
Stephanie Strohm (Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink, HMH)
Nova Ren Suma (17 & Gone, Penguin)
Greg Takoudes (When We Wuz Famous, Macmillan)
Mary Thompson (Wuftoom, HMH)
Jess Verdi (My Life After Now, Sourcebooks)
K.M. Walton (Empty, S&S)
Suzanne Weyn (Dr. Frankenstein’s Daughters, Scholastic)
Kathryn Williams (Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous, Macmillan)
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 12/25/2012
Blog:
Beth Kephart Books
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This is how it happens: I write an adult book that Laura Geringer discovers and reads; she gets in touch. For a year Laura and I talk about how ill-equipped I feel I am to write books for young adults. A conversation in a Philadelphia restaurant changes everything; I am persuaded to try. I write what will become several books for Laura, and in the midst of story development, copy editing, cover design, and publicity, I meet Jill Santopolo—utterly adorable, fashion savvy, super smart, wildly well-organized, and Laura's second in command at Laura Geringer Books/HarperTeen, where I will write four books, one of them (
The Heart is Not a Size) being Jill's very own. Then one day Jill calls to say that she is headed to Philomel to join a children's book empire carved out by a man named Michael Green. I'd really like Michael, Jill says. She hopes I'll eventually meet him.
(She is right. And I do. Facts made true in reverse order.)
A few years later, I see Jill again, this time at an ALA event, where she slips me a copy of
Between Shades of Gray and whispers two words in my ear: Tamra Tuller. Jill and Tamra are, by now, colleagues at Philomel, and Tamra edits the kind of books I like to write. Jill, looking trademark gorgeous, encourages me to read Ruta Sepetys' international bestseller of a debut novel as proof. I do. Again, I am persuaded. Not long afterwards, I have the great privilege of joining the Philomel family when Tamra reads a book I've been working on for ten years and believes that it has merit. Jill has opened her new home to me, and I am grateful.
What happens next is that Tamra moves to Chronicle and I, with a book dedicated to her because I do love her that much, move to Chronicle, too. What happens next is Jill and I remain friends (Jill and I and Michael and Jessica, too (not to mention Laura)). Which is all a very long way of saying how happy I was to receive two of Jill's newest creations just a few weeks ago. Last night and early this morning I read the first of them. It's called
Invisibility, it's due out in May, and it is co-authored by Jill's fabulously successful Philomel author, Andrea Cremer (
The Nightshade Series) and the big-hearted author/editor/sensation/Lover's Dictionary Guru David Levithan.
I hear David Levithan—his soulfulness, his tenderness, his yearning, his love—when I read this book. I hear Andrea Cremer—her careful and credible world building, her necessary specificity, her other-worldly imagination. It's a potent combination in a story about a Manhattan boy whom no one in the world can see. No one, that is, except for the girl who has moved in down the hall—a girl who has escaped Minnesota with a brother she deeply loves and a mother who cares for them both, but must work long hours to keep her transplanted family afloat. Cremer and Levithan's Manhattan is tactile, navigable, stewing with smells and scenes. Their fantasy world—spellcraft, curses, witches, magic—is equally cinematic and engaging. The love between the invisible boy and the seeing (and, as it turns out, magically gifted) girl feels enduring, and then there's that other kind of love—between Elizabeth and her brother—that gives this story even greater depth and meaning. The parents aren't nearly bad either (not at all).
What it is to be invisible. What it is to see and be seen. What it is to know there is evil in the world and that any strike against it will scar and (indeed) age those who take a stand.
Invisibility is a fantasy story, but it is more than that, too. It's a growing-up story in which courage, truth-telling, sacrifice, and vulnerability figure large, and in which love of every kind makes a difference.
Hold a book in your lap and it will take you some place. If you let it take you.
This morning I have sat with Eliot Schrefer's
Endangered, which is to say that I've been living in the Congo. That skittering spectrum of butterflies. That sizzle of manioc and wild garlic. Those high, rattling screams of animals, and of war.
Sophie, our guide, is a teen whose American father lives in Miami, and whose mother has stayed behind in her own country to lead a bonobo sanctuary. In the opening pages, Sophie saves an orphaned bonobo from a cruel fate by buying him from a starving pedestrian. It's not the right way to save this endangered species, but it is the only way, and soon Sophie, now at living for the summer at her mother's sanctuary, becomes this scrawny, mangled Otto's best friend.
Paradise is, however, short-lived. A coup has occurred. All madness breaks out in a part of the world whose mineral resources make it wealthy beyond compare, but whose people have learned to live with little and survive on less. Sophie will have to journey through a war-torn country to safety. She will have to earn the trust of bonobos, find a way to eat, determine what matters most, keep her Otto safe, allow Otto to protect her. She will have to understand love and its limits. Along the way Schrefer's readers come to know a part of the world and a species of animal that deserves our knowing—and attention.
Schrefer comes by his love for bonobos honestly, having spent some time in the Congo himself. (He has the photos to prove it!) He (and his book) exude, as well, great purpose—elevating readerly compassion with a determined heroine, hinting at the complexity of life in a fragile country, making it clear that survival comes, always, at great cost. It's the perfect conversation book, the perfect story for a classroom, the perfect ticket to the Congo.
Three final things:
The photographs above are not of bonobos, but they are the closest I had in my own photo library (images snapped in Berlin last summer).
I loved reading, in the acknowledgments, that my friend and former editor Jill Santopolo had a hand in shaping Eliot's book. Everything that Jill touches sparkles.
If you want to see pictures of Eliot debuting his book at Children's Book World this past Friday, go
here.
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 7/24/2012
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I wanted to find a pair of cowgirl boots for my friend Caroline Leavitt, to thank her for making room for me on her roost today, but the best I could do was this sign, photographed in Nashville four years ago, which sat (you'll have to believe me) right near a cowboy/cowgirl boot store. Why I didn't think to photograph the boots themselves is beyond me. What is not beyond me, at this moment, is gratitude. For Caroline's friendship. For her own talent. For conversations we have had in public and in private as we both journey through this writing life. I don't even know how Caroline got an early copy of
Small Damages, but she had one. She's in the midst of writing a brand new book, and she made time to read it. Then she asked me excellent questions, the kind of questions one who knows another well can ask.
I answered them all here.Among the things we discussed is how much I love Philomel, and how I made my way to this great place to begin with. I extract a small fraction of our conversation below, but hope you will visit Leavittville for more.
Philomel is exquisite. At Philomel I have a home. There I have never felt like a fringe writer, a secondary writer, a marginal, will-she-please-fit-a-category, we’ll-get-to-you-when-we-get-to-you writer. Michael Green, Philomel’s president, is a most generous person, and correspondent. Tamra—beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful, embracing—approached the editing of this book, the design of its cover, and the preparation of it for the world with the greatest care, and in the process we became great friends. Jessica Shoffel, a wildly wonderful and innovative publicist, wrote me a note I’ll never forget after she read the book and her devotion to getting the word out has been unflagging, sensational. The sales team got in touch a long time ago and has stayed in touch. And on and on.
But no, I never knew I would shine. I don’t think of myself as a diamond or a star. I never think in those terms. I just keep writing my heart out. And when you are collaborating with a house like Philomel, when you are given room, when your questions are answered, when you are given a chance, there are possibilities.
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Beth Kephart ,
on 7/19/2012
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The most important thing about this day is that it marks my son's twenty-third birthday. He came into the world after thirty-six hours of labor. He had a full head of thick, black hair. He reached for my husband's finger and squeezed it tight. The next day, we drove him to my mother's house in a beat-up Ford Mustang—his hat still on despite the July heat.
There's no accounting for a mother's love. There's no math that will contain it. The baby became a boy became a kid became a man—so bright, so inventive, so funny, so adventuresome, so thoughtful, and with a raft of terrific friends, and with a future that seems (thanks to some recent interviews) so close and within reach, and with a talent for loving.
That boy traveled to Spain with me and my husband, several times, to visit my brother-in-law. We together met characters like an old man named Luis, and like a count who raised Spain's prized fighting bulls. We traveled out to a broad cortijo, watched the gypsies dance, sat front row at flamenco shows. We ate paella at midnight on the streets, tapas in tiny bars. We went in and out of bull rings and up cathedral towers and in between the narrow spaces of Seville. We watched the nuns flutter by. We saw children playing on rooftops. And when I started to write a novel with all of this as the backdrop, this son of mine listened to me read out loud—this passage or that at the kitchen table. He steered the ship with his spare comments and would not let me give up in the face of grave disappointments. He said, "Believe in yourself."
I don't think there would be a
Small Damages without this guy, and that brings us to birthday number two.
Small Damages, a book that has always been dedicated to my son, is being launched today. That it is a book, that it has come this far, is all thanks to the extremely extraordinary Tamra Tuller, Michael Green, Jessica Shoffel, and Jill Santopolo of Philomel. That it has been welcomed into this world is all thanks to the generosity of readers and bloggers and reviewers and interviewers, whose goodness is unfathomable and restorative and redeeming and proof that maybe a girl can write and write and write and not be especially famous, but keep writing, and then have a moment in time like this one.
An unforgettable moment in time.
To all of you, and to my agent Amy Rennert, who has been there through all fourteen books, thick and thin (and so much thin), thank you.
Cake is now being served for all.
The icing is here, in these words from the great (truly great)
Pam van Hylckama of Bookalicious.org and in this kindness from the ever-kind and supportive
Serena Agusto-Cox.
From Pam:
It is not often that a book that makes you lose your breath. You read novel that makes you want t
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Beth Kephart ,
on 5/31/2012
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If I am too exhausted to state with any inch of eloquence how grateful I am for today—for being included in a well-run, truly substantive, inviting conference, for sitting on a panel among greats, for meeting, at long last, the delightful Jenny Brown, for spying on Roger Sutton's socks, for a chance to hurry through a loved city's streets, for an excuse to visit the extraordinarily wonderful Tamra Tuller, Michael Green, Jessica Shoffel, and Jill Santopolo, for the opportunity to meet the funny and fun and winning Lauren Marino—if I am too exhausted, might I at least share these two images of a conference I won't forget?
Thank you, Ed Nawotka and Dennis Abrams of
Publishing Perspectives for making this day what it was. For making me a part of it.
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Beth Kephart ,
on 3/14/2012
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In the summer of 2010, I was at the American Library Association meeting in Washington, DC, when the ever-fashionable Jill Santopolo (who had worked with me on several Laura Geringer/Harper Collins books and had herself edited
The Heart Is Not a Size) slipped a copy of Ruta Sepetys's novel to me and said, "I read this on the train and cried. I think it's the kind of book you'd love."
I did. So did the world.
Reading
Between Shades of Gray made me wonder about the editor of that book, Jill's Philomel colleague Tamra Tuller, who had taken on Ruta's literary exploration of another time, another place. I had been working on a Seville novel for years at that point. I had come close—very close—to selling it more than one time. My heart had been broken, but I hadn't given up; if I believed in anything I believed in that
cortijo, that cook, those gypsies, those Spanish songs. I wrote a note to Tamra—brazen slush pile person that I have often been—and asked if she might take a look.
She did. The rest is history. Two years to the month after my first reaching out to Tamra,
Small Damages—far the better book for the conversations Tamra and I had—will be released, on my son's birthday, to be exact. A year or so from now (the timing isn't fixed) my Berlin novel, a book born out of a phone conversation Tamra and I had one afternoon, a book that reflects both our love for that city (Tamra having gone there first, Tamra having sent me thoughts about where I might go, what I might see), will find its way into the world.
And today, for the first time, I meet Tamra, a young woman who has changed my writing life immeasurably in ways both big and small. Two trains, a long walk, a conversation—in person. If I'm lucky, Jill herself will be in sight (and the very dear Jessica).
It feels like going home.
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Beth Kephart ,
on 3/4/2012
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I talk a lot about how much I love Philomel, Tamra Tuller, Michael Green, Jill Santopolo, and Jessica Shoffel, not to mention the amazing sales and marketing team—but hey, it's not without good reason. Among the many gifts of working with this house is the sense that I have joined an active, loving, functional family. These are people who care. These are people who read your books when they arrive and who send you notes throughout the process—notes that you cling to in the midst of hair-tossing winds.
Among the many gifts that Tamra has given is introductions to two of her own writers—both of whom were heroines of mine long before I ever thought I'd meet them. One is Ruta Sepetys, whose
Between Shades of Gray is a towering international success; Ruta and Tamra were just in Lithuania, for example, meeting with the prime minister about that very book. The other is
Kathryn Erskine, who isn't just the National Book Award winner for
Mockingbird, but a woman of such abiding curiosity and abundant imagination that when you ask,
What are you working on these days, Kathy?, you get a series of gorgeous history lessons and a few foreign phrases thrown in to boot.
Both Ruta and Kathryn kindly read
Small Damages and contributed their words to the back cover. A few months later, Ruta wrote to say it would be fun to find a way to do an event together (imagine!) and Kathryn asked if I'd be interested in doing an interview for Book Hook, an email newsletter written for parents, homeschoolers, teachers, librarians, and grandparents. The answer to Kathy's question was pretty easy (yes), and today I share the link to our conversation. This was the first interview I'd done for
Small Damages, and it was an honor to have had the conversation with Kathy.
I share a snippet below. You can find the whole by going to this
link and then downloading the February/March 2012 edition. Between now and then, I share the photo up above from one of my many trips to Seville. That gorgeous kid is the boy I love. In a few months' time, he'll be a college grad. I dedicated
Small Damages to him, because it was this young man who, at so many junctures in his life, would sit and let me read aloud from a book that challenged me greatly; he was the one who listened.
Write about the living, not the dead, he said one day after I had read a funeral scene. With his words, my story turned. So did my future.
Kathy: You really captured the mood of sultry, sun-drenched Spain. Can you tell us about your Spanish travels?
My husband, who was born and raised in El Salvador, has a far-flung family. His youngest brother lived in the south of Spain for years, and so we visited a number of times. Seville became a city that I could walk alone, discover on my own, a city I loved and love still. We would also drive out to the countryside. During one excursion, I met one of the best known breeders of the fighting bulls of Spain. I set SMALL DAMAGES in a cortijo very much like the one we visited. Miguel is in some ways patterned after that heroic breeder.
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Beth Kephart ,
on 6/30/2011
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I began my travels to southern Spain more than 16 years ago. I met an old man named Luis, who cooked for me when I was sick. I found a bathtub full of oranges high up, on an old, odd roof. I met one of the King's best friends, southern Spain's finest breeder of bulls, and he took me out in an open jeep, where the unsuspecting herd was chewing. I watched the flamenco dancers dance; I climbed the towers; I studied the bridge. I read of the war, and I read of survivor, and I tracked down old memoirs from the Franco era, preserving the recipes I'd find clenched within the pages. Seville was home to my brother-in-law, Rodi, his wife, and their children, and so to Seville my husband, son, and I would repeatedly return. I walked through doors few do.
For years, I worked on a book I called
Small Damages, except for the years during which I thought of it as
The Last Threads of Saffron. The novel evolved over time—became a story of gypsies, a story of the deaf, a story of an old cook's love affair. Last summer, just about this time, I shared a draft of the book with Tamra Tuller, an editor at Philomel Books, whose Kathryn Erskine (
Mockingbird) would go on to win the 2010 National Book Award and whose Ruty Sepetys (
Between Shades of Gray) would appear on the bestseller list in her debut week earlier this year. Tamra had ideas about
Small Damages. She encouraged me to keep working. She emerged as one of those rare editors who agrees to read again, who quietly and gainfully encourages.
Tamra shares, with me, a love of travel, a love of exotic foods, even a love of the TV show "Top Chef." Tamra is also, as of today, thanks to the announcement (below) in the
PW Children's Bookshelf, the editor of
Small Damages. I don't think I can express just what this means to me.
Tamra is kind, and she is smart. She works within a team—which includes my dear former editor Jill Santopolo (who introduced me to Tamra by way of Ruta's book) and the remarkable Michael Green—that makes a writer feel at home.
My great thanks, then, to Tamra, to Jill, to Michael, to Philomel, and to my agent, Amy Rennert. My thanks, too, to Kate Moses, Susan Straight, Alyson Hagy, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, and Ivy Goodman, who read this book over time and kept me believing in it. Maybe it took ten years and eighty drafts to write the book that
Small Damages finally is. But the book feels brand new and just right and full of hope in the hands of Tamra Tuller.
Tamra Tuller at Philomel Books bought world rights to National Book Award finalist Beth Kephart’s YA novel Small Damages, a coming-of-age story set in southern Spain about the difficult choices a teenaged girl faces when she gets pregnant. The publication is scheduled for summer 2012; Amy Rennert of the Amy Rennert Agency brokered the deal.
I'm taking an 8 week Writer's Workshop through McDaniel College. I'm learning so much about receiving and giving critiques. It's amazing how I can read something a hundred times and still not see something that my classmates have point out.
Our instructor is the fabulous Jill Santopolo who is an author and and editor for Philomel.
On the SCBWI front, the Central and Southern Ohio is planning a fundraising Bookfair at Barnes & Noble on Saturday, June 25th from 11:00-4:00. Hope to see you there.
Many, many years ago, I began to write a book about Seville. Or, I should say, a book inspired by my many travels to Seville, where my brother-in-law lived for years. I met an old man named Luis in Seville—a cook with a passion for colorful birds. I fell in love with gypsy song and flamenco, traveled the dusty roads, went out among the bulls with one of the country's most respected bull breeders, climbed the towers, sat in the cathedral, grew obsessed with paella and saffron. Seville was heat in the high summer and a wise men's parade in early January and long rides in a temperamental citroen named Gloria. It was, for me, story.
I wrote that story many ways. I kept looking for its heart. Many times I came close, and then something frayed or fell apart. No one, I suspect, thought I'd keep working at it this long.
Last summer, I believed I had found my Seville story's center, and I sent the book to Tamra Tuller, the Philomel editor whose work—most recently the much-anticipated
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (translation rights for which sold in dozens of countries long before the book was close to launch) and 2010 National Book Award winning
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine—I'd been hearing so much about (thanks, in part, to my friend Jill Santopolo). Tamra and I began a conversation, and it is with great, great joy and a certain recognition for the many blessings in my life that I can (my agent Amy Rennert tells me today) share the news that SMALL DAMAGES has a home, a beautiful home with Tamra at Philomel.
I am overjoyed.
A few days ago, when Amy Riley and I were taking a wee break from techno talk (Beth: HTML code? Amy (long distance): Okay. I'm doing it with you. Are you on the Feedburner screen? Do you see the box next to the words ....?), I told her that I'd just returned from the bookstore with an armload of new books. She, being a great reader herself, asked me which ones. I listed Libba Bray's
A Great and Terrible Beauty, Richard Russo's
That Old Cape Magic, Maile Meloy's
Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, John Green's
Looking for Alaska, and Jane Mendelsohn's
American Music.There was a bit of a pause, as Amy searched (I imagine) for some pattern in my selections. "Interesting," she said at last. "How do you choose what you are going to read?"
In answering the question I realized just how many influences weigh upon me. The fact that I work in multiple genres, that I teach, and that I care a whole lot about language has me scurrying after the books I hope will teach me—in every genre. The fact that I sometimes wonder why the rest of the world reads what it reads (e.g.,
The Help, Girl in Translation,
Loving Frank) gets me curious enough to buy. Blogs influence me (hence my purchase of
My Name is Mary Sutter). Friends do (Kate Moses has led me to
The Names of Things; Jane Satterfield to
The Importance of Music to Girls). Reviews do (
The New York Times Book Review led me to Forest Gander's
As a Friend, Kim Echlin's
The Disappeared, and Chloe Aridjis's
Book of Clouds). I trust imprints, like Graywolf, because they publish friends like Alyson Hagy and so I read and not surprisingly love Jessica Francis Kane's
The Report. I trust editor friends like Laura Geringer, Jill Santopolo, and Alane Mason, and so I read, respectively,
Virgin Territory, Between Shades of Gray, and
Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives and
Nothing Happened and Then it Did. Many, many authors send me their books, and I do all I can to read them. On lovely afternoons, I drift through bookstores and find titles that appeal, and some of my favorite books have come to me this way: Michael Ondaatje's work,
The Book Thief, The Cellist of Sarajevo, to name just a few.
This time around, my reasons were thus: Maile Meloy because my writing friends adore her work and because I've been impressed by earlier stories. John Green because he is John Green. Richard Russo because I always meant to read him and because bloggers I respect insist. Libba Bray because two minutes in her presence and I adored her. Jane Mendelsohn because I absolutely loved her first novel,
I Was Amelia Earhart, which begins: "The sky is flesh. The great blue belly arches up above the water and bends behind the line of the horizon...."
Marketers would love to know the why behind book selling. Pundits speculate (interestingly, following the recent
New York Times story suggesting that book trailers are highly influential, my in box was full of readers saying they never watch trailers). I can only tell you what I do. I wonder what your methods are.
If I brought just one ARC home from the BEA—the glorious
The Report (Jessica Francis Kane)—I was to have traveled home with two ARCs from the ALA convention. The first, Caroline Leavitt's
Pictures of You, did in fact make it into my bag. The second,
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, was delivered to me at the Egmont USA booth by a fashion-runway-worthy Jill Santopolo, only to be snatched by an eager reader when I oh-so-briefly turned my head. I had to wait until yesterday, when another copy of the ARCs arrived by mail, to read this book that Jill had loved so much. It had made her cry on the train, she said. She had thought that I might like it.
She was right, as Jill so often is.
Between Shades of Gray is an important book—a story that captures the terrifying deportation of a Lithuanian family by the Soviet secret police. Along with tens of thousands of others, 15-year-old Lina, her younger brother, and her educated, lovely mother are packed onto trains and sent toward the bitter cold of Siberia; their father, meanwhile, is sentenced to a prison-camp death. What will survival look like? What will kindness look like? Who is to be trusted? The losses will be great; in an author's note, we learn that more than a third of all Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians were killed during Stalin's ruthless genocide. Goodness, however, also prevails, for Lina is strong and she is faithful—losing and gaining, falling in love, making a record of the life she is living through drawings and words.
Simply and compellingly told, endowed with an honorable and serious purpose,
Between Shades of Gray is the sort of book that wakens new knowledge in is readers. Knowledge of a terrible time, absolutely. Knowledge about the great capacity of the human heart: that, too.
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 11/23/2009
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I have been out of my home more than I should be of late—at meetings, at conferences, at gatherings. I have not found the time simply to be. Last night, as I walked through the dusk of my city, Philadelphia, toward the ALAN cocktail hour at the NCTE event, I felt a floating disassociation from myself. I counted the things that I should be doing, the things that would never get done.
That welling was countered almost at once by the embrace of HarperTeen's own Laura Lutz (who is a dark-haired version of the young Amy Irving, I finally decided); by a conversation with the delightful Matt Phelan; by the long rat-a-tat with HarperTeen's Emilie Ziemer, not just a dancer herself, but an exemplary reader (and good soul). It was further improved by time spent with Jill Santopolo, and by listening, then, to writers talk about their process and their teaching.
Are you a lawyer? someone asked me. No, why? I wondered. Because you ask so many questions, came the answer. A familiar accusation.
There was a dinner after that—eating on stools, family style, in the Osteria kitchen; it was like a scene straight out of Top Chef. Chris Crutcher talked about freedoms of speech. Patricia McCormick was her extraordinarily lovely self (we share friends, as it turns out, and experiences in special places). Alessandra Balzer and Patty Rosati were gracious hostesses. I wasn't entirely sure, to be honest, just why I was there, how I fit—if I would ever fit—within that lit world glamor. But I was very glad to have been invited. To have touched down, for a brief spell, within that world of books.
Hi Jill, Thanks for joining us today.
Can you tell me a little about yourself?
I'm a newly-minted executive editor at Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group. Before I came to Penguin, I worked at HarperCollins for seven years, starting as an editorial assistant at Laura Geringer Books and working my way up to a senior editor there. I held the same position for a year at Balzer + Bray after Laura Geringer left the company.
I'm also a writer and a writing teacher. My books The Nina, The Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure and The Ransom Note Blues were published by Scholastic, and I teach a children's novel writing class twice a year through Mediabistro. I have an undergraduate degree in English Lit from Columbia and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. I also have a certificate in Intellectual Property Law from NYU, but only really use the info I learned there when I'm talking to in-house lawyers about contracts.
As an author and editor, what do you think are the top 3 things every author should and must do to promote their book?
1. I think all authors should have a website that they update as often as they can with new content to keep readers invested (I'm not particularly good at this, but I try).
2. I think all authors should try to coordinate appearances where they get to meet their readers face-to-face. I think middle grade writers especially should try to book as many school visits as possible.
3. I think all authors should do something special for the launch of each book they write--a big launch party in their home town, a contest online, a blog tour--basically anything that drums up excitement for the publication of the title.
How important is technology to an author’s marketing plan?
I think technology is especially important for authors writing for teens. It's a good way to get the word out to teachers and librarians about books for younger kids, but with books for teens, it's a way to get your book in front of the eyes of your target audience and allow them to connect with other fans to form a community around a certain book or a certain author.
As an author, did you think about marketing before your book was published? Did you start prior to getting an agent or selling your book? If so, when and what did you do?
I didn't start thinking about marketing prior to getting an agent or selling my book, but I did start prior to publication. I made a website, organized a publication party at a local independent bookstore along with my publisher, and organized an online blog tour/contest (also along with my publisher). I created tote bags with my book jacket on it to give out at the book launch and as part of the blog tour/contest, and I used my contacts in the educational world to arrange for school visits. I probably should have done more with stock signings at book stores, but I dropped the ball a bit on that one.
How do you feel about group promotion? Is it effective?
I do think it's beneficial for authors to team up and promote as a group. First, I think it's always good to pool brain power. One person may come up with an idea that another person would never have thought of and vice versa. With more people working together there will likely be more out-of-the-box, interesting ways to promote titles. Also, if a reader likes one particular author, he or she may show up for an event to see that person and then will be able to learn about other authors and other books and enjoy reading them too. I see group promotion as a way to merge fan bases and merge ideas so that all authors benefit and can expand their readership.
When evaluating whether to take on an author or book, do you ever google them to see if they already have a web presence or platform?
I usually don't Google an author unless the agent makes a mention in a pitch that the author is part of such-and-such blog or so-and-so website--or if the agent says that the author is already published. In both those cases I check out the blog or website mentioned or look to see what the author has done online for previously published books. I probably should Google everyone, though. I bet it would give me insight into authors' brains a bit.
What other advice do you have for authors/writers regarding marketing?
My biggest piece of advice is that as the author, you will be your book's biggest champion. Your agent and your editor and your publishing house will do the best they can because they want your book to succeed too, but the more you can do the better. One caveat: make sure to run everything by the publicist your publishing house assigns to your book, because you don't want to step on anyone's toes or make any enemies. But once you have a good relationship going, and you know what it's okay to do on your own, go for it! Your book is your baby, so do what you can to get the word out.
And finally, everyone wants to know, what are you looking for? What are you interested in?
I'm looking for good books for middle grade girl readers. I'd love a contemporary, realistic, commercial series or two that focus on a core group of friends--something that would be today's equivalent of The Babysitters Club. I love well-plotted mysteries and kick-butt female protagonists. I'm also looking for standalone literary novels with a strong concept and strong character. But mostly all middle grade and all for girls.
Thank you for taking time out to answer these questions for us!
Thanks Shellli!
I have drawn the brilliant conclusion that all important messages are sent to me while I am at the dance studio being tossed about, from partner hip to hip (do they really call that move the back breaker?), or when being encouraged to go high on the tango kicks (really? you want me to kick that high?).
For today while being asked to scorpion my legs while being spun but a quick half turn (okay, you try it), the red phone light was blinking with this news: The Heart is Not a Size is now available in galley form.
There is so much, for me, that is bittersweet about this book, and so much that, quietly (can I say this?) I am proud of. Not proud in a hang-the-ribbons-on-the-wall fashion, but proud because this book required me to push through issues with which I have struggled for nearly a lifetime.
In any case. And so it is. And someday, maybe, I'll execute that scorpion kick in a manner that does not cause Scott Lazarov to gently roll his eyes.
Several years ago, Laura Geringer wrote a most extraordinary note, inviting me to consider writing for young adults. Despite years spent teaching children and a stint as the chair of the 2001 National Book Awards Young People's Literature jury, this was not something that I felt I knew how to do. Nonetheless, I loved Laura's mind from the first, I loved our conversations, and we kept talking. We talked for almost a year until we finally met in person—Laura asking me questions on a rainy Sunday morning to which some combination of my personal history and imagination responded. Undercover emerged under Laura's great care. House of Dance was next. Nothing but Ghosts and a short story for the just-released HarperTeen anthology No Such Thing as the Real World were subsequent. Finally, Laura bought the early pages of The Heart of Not a Size, the Juarez novel due out from HarperTeen next March (and carried so ably forward by the delightful Jill Santopolo).
Laura left HarperTeen in August of last year, but our friendship continued. Today I am so utterly happy to announce that I'll be working with Laura again on an historical novel that is currently titled Dangerous Neighbors. It's a book that I conceived of several years ago, when writing Flow, my autobiography of the Schuylkill River. It's a book that Amy Rennert, my agent, wholly believed in. It's a book that went through several iterations and will, no doubt, again, for Laura asks exquisite questions, she pushes authors far, she sees, and—more than anything—she believes in literature and complex stories, in fiction that pushes boundaries.
I have the chance to work with Laura again because she has formed an alliance with a genuinely interesting publishing house called Egmont USA, an outgrowth of a publishing house with a long European pedigree. In making her announcement about Laura today, Egmont USA publisher Elizabeth Law noted that "her excellent taste, creative ideas and deep relationships in the field will be a perfect complement to our fast growing children's list."
Yes. Yes. And Yes.
A brief description of Dangerous Neighbors:
It is the Centennial year in Philadelphia, and Katherine has lost her twin sister to an inconceivable accident. One wickedly hot September day at the height of exhibition madness, Katherine sets out to cut short the lonesome life she is no longer willing to live. This is the story of what happens.
Yesterday, while walking down the street, I heard the golden-voiced Devon Horse Show emcee introducing a Floridian horse named Undercover. I stood and waited as Undercover jumped a clean, high-gated round, a good-luck omen, I thought. Today Jill Santopolo writes to tell me that my own Undercover paperback has officially launched as of this hour. "I hope you celebrate," she said.
An hour later the mail brought a package from Jill containing the hardback of Nothing but Ghosts. It was the first I'd seen this book in its final form— a reminder of how much better the hardback is than the ARCs released months ago. Nuances matter in the books that I write, and they matter particularly in Ghosts.
How does one celebrate the release of two books? I can only think of one way. By plucking peonies from my garden and arranging a photo shoot, and by sharing the news with the intrepid souls who so graciously gather here.
and signals the release of Nothing but Ghosts. It exists. It is. There's nothing that I can do to this book to make it any smarter, any righter, any more whole.
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Wow! What a fabulous line up. It's wonderful to see YA in the spotlight. I was already impressed with David Levithan's writing, but this festival makes me appreciate him all the more.
DL is a great ambassador for YA.
I was at the Saturday panels last year, and I hope to go this year if I can manage it. Wonderful lineup!